1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fish scaling and cleaning device for use in cleaning fish, and is particularly surface responsive so as to have adjustable positions with regard to the curved or irregular skin surfaces of the fish. The invention preferably includes a mounted blade having dual blade surfaces which are surface responsive to different contours of scales and tissues being excised by the scaler. In the preferred embodiment the blade itself has a curvature responsive to the irregular curved surfaces of the fish.
An optional rotating cutting tool may be housed within a funnel housing with the cutting tool having sets of two types of blades which alternately cut the scales off the fish and then the underlying visceral tissues between the skin and the edible meat. In the optional version the rotary blades of the tool are rotated and held in position in a funnel shaped housing, which blades are rotated by a spindle connected to a conventional power means.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
The prior art World Intellectual Property Organization Patent Document Number W084/03024 of James describes a fish scaler with bristle filaments extending therefrom to scale a fish in one plane, in which the axis of rotation is parallel to the surface of the fish being scaled. U.S. Pat. No. 4,106,193 of Fisher describes rotating knives; however, the knives in Fisher scale a fish in one plane where the flat ends of the knives touch the fish. U.S. Pat. No. 4,297,765 of Altman depicts a round, non-rotating bristled brush with a water source. Moreover U.S. Pat. No. 4,761,856 of Ewing also describes a rotating cylindrical plurality of bristles in which the axis of rotation is parallel to the surface of the fish being scaled, without regard to the curvature of the surfaces of the fish.
None of these prior patents describe a fish scaling device which adapts to the curvature of the skin, nor which uses a dual set of blades, one serrated portion to remove the outer scales and a second sharper knife for removing visceral tissues underneath the skin and above the meat. Furthermore, none of the prior art patents describe a rotating set of blades wherein the axis of rotation of the blades is perpendicular to the surface of the fish being scaled and cleaned. Because the axis of rotation is perpendicular the axis of the rotating blades, the present invention can be moved in a curved fashion over and responsive to the curvature of the fish skin, while maintaining an efficient perpendicular orientation of the axis of rotation of the blades, thus assuring that the blades rotate perpendicular to the axis of rotation and parallel to surface of the skin being cleaned. In contrast, in the prior art patents, the fish itself must be moved and rotated because of the way the prior art devices generally operate in one plane.